For one minute, walk outside, stand there, in silence, look up at the sky and contemplate how amazing life is.

Friends

27 November 2013

Update plus wedding pics

Some things medical can be funny.
For example, one day recently we were sent to the blood testing station and
took our turn amongst many others. The procedure is to take a number from a
machine and wait until that number is called. We were number 55 so we knew we were
in for a long wait. By lunchtime the countdown hadn’t just slowed, it had
stopped. There was a definite lull at 26. I guessed the phlebotomists (my
medical knowledge is growing) had stopped for lunch.

Well, you know how people chat when
they’re all in the same boat. People started saying funny things and I made the
comment that when eventually we neared number 55 we might hear someone shout
‘come in No.55 your time’s up’ which immediately reminded me of the old times
when people hired rowing boats on the lake and had to be called in by the boat
keeper. I can’t count the times as a kid when I heard the man in charge yelling
‘Come in Number 7 (or whatever) your time’s up’. I commented to Joe that I
didn’t think that sort of thing went on anymore... ‘No,’ he replied, ‘they
probably send a text’.

How very droll!

When play started in the afternoon
the phlebotomist took three phials of blood which to my mind was just plain
greedy.

We had already seen the consultant
and his registrar, neither of whom were satisfied with Joe’s medical condition
... too much blood in the urine. So right after providing the NHS with more
blood I whisked him off to another hospital armed with letter from one doc to
another. After a long wait we saw a doctor/surgeon/specialist who, like all
others, was mystified as to why the ‘good’ kidney wasn’t working as it should.
Investigations to commence! Joe was detained in hospital for one night so they
could sort out the bloody urine while I caught up with some sleep after the ten
hour stint.

Surprise of the week came on Monday
afternoon. We were relaxing in the lounge with daughter Rosanne (who is over
from Australia) when the phone rang. It was a ‘withheld’ number which could mean someone was ringing from somewhere in the medical profession. We were
right! It was our own family doctor who asked if he could visit us that day. After
all the hospital visits and admissions plus tests, scans and consultations, you
can imagine what went through our minds. I think all three of us suffered from
shock in the first instance.

What the doctor really came for was
to advise us that Joe has been elevated to a new level now that he is 75 and has
undergone an emergency hospital admission as a 75 year old. He will be the subject of frequent
discussions between local doctors, hospital consultants, nurses and others, and
home visits will regularly be made. Fame at last! I now feel I must curtsy when
in Joe’s superior presence. I mean, this is real celebrity status, something
that doesn’t come easy to the average man about town. Or woman! I am older than
him and I haven’t been graced with such importance.

And they moan about the National
Health Service, as far as we’re concerned it’s brilliant.

Rosanne found it all very interesting. She was recently married to Frank and this was our first time with her since the wedding. She has been a great help in so many ways and we spent a lot of time looking at her photographs. We are to have a copy of the video when it is ready. I am including some pictures of her and Frank on their wedding day.

My Dad used to say the same thing about the NHS. It was a Godsend when they needed it and he was always a big supporter of it. Your daughter is a real beauty Valerie and don't they make a lovely couple? The wedding photos are lovely. Apologies in advance for the extra links that seem to follow me around like millstone with a ball and chain attached! :(

Good news about Joe !! Glad you found some comic relief while waiting such a long time foryour turn with the phlebos. I'm not that tolerant and I work in a hospitallab.Congrats to the newlyweds ... lovely couple !!

Doctors in the US rarely make house calls...we do have some services that will have visiting nurses visit the elderly or infirmed....you just have to come to the office. There are a few more services that can help...like dial a ride. I always went with my mom to the Dr when she got down.

In defense of the system that we are trying to destroy at great expense to everyone, my wife always gets in to have her blood taken with 15 minutes being the longest she has ever had. The $3 to 5,000 deductible means we will pay for insurance and still never receive any benefits. The death panels will tell us to go home and take a pill.

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